Most of my road trips are documented with only photographs and log books. The intention is to find an easy and interesting way
to share them with you here... in time. However, I do have two trips that were documented (in part) with moving pictures. One is my
very first long-distance road trip shortly after I acquired this car. The other one happens to be my most recent trip since the restoration.
The first one is from 1980 and was shot on Super 8mm film. The sound track is made up of airchecks of radio stations I recorded
along the way.
After a road trip in the late summer of 2004, when I finally replaced the cracked exhaust manifolds and could now hear the motor
clearly, I put the 'bird in the garage knowing it was time to have some engine work done. In talking to my current 312 doctor, Don
at Campbell Automotive, it was decided that I would remove the engine and take it to him to work on over the winter. I concluded
that if I was ever going to do the restoration I'd always wanted to do on the car, now would be the time. My investment over the
years was to keep it in good mechanical order and looking' decent. I was never interested in devoting the time and money to show
the car. My bliss was in driving the thing... the smell, the sound and the feel of being connected to the motor through my right foot.
It was time to enjoy this car in a different way. If I waited 'til I had the money I'd never do it, and always say it was something I
wish I'd done, so I dove in. The restoration page will have more details, but here is the video-log of the summer of 2007 trip
after the
restoration. It was 25 years after my first road trip with this particular 'bird and just in time to celebrate the car's 50th birthday...
